There is a fixing device in which a fixing belt laid over a plurality of rollers including a pressurizing roller is wound around a heat roller to secure a large nip width between the heat roller and the fixing belt. However, in the fixing device including the fixing belt, a shock is caused in a sheet by speed fluctuation that occurs when the sheet enters a pressurizing section in which the pressurizing roller is pressed against the heat roller. If the shock in the sheet caused when the sheet enters the pressurizing section is propagated to a transfer section, it is likely that a toner image being transferred is disturbed and image quality is deteriorated.
Therefore, there is a technique for setting fixing speed low compared with transfer speed, bending the sheet between the transfer section and the fixing device, and preventing the toner image from being disturbed when the sheet enters the pressurizing section. However, if a bending amount of the sheet between the transfer section and the fixing device increases, it is likely that the sheet comes into contact with a structure present around the sheet and disturbs the toner image.
The related art is disclosed in JP-A-11-45025.